When In Rome… Don’t Eat Cheese

An interesting report I found on yahoo news highlights a rather cheesy scam.

Rotting Cheese

A report on an Italian police investigation in Rome, by La Repubblica, states that 11,000 tonnes of rotting or out-of-date cheese from European dairies were mixed with fresh products and resold.

La Repubblica says that instead of destroying the cheese, some 40 Italian, British, German and Austrian firms reworked them instead, using four companies headed by a Sicilian businessman.

Three of those companies were based in Italy whilst the other was based in Germany.

Mice Droppings

The report goes on to say that the rotten cheese contained foreign objects, such as mice droppings, in addition to residue from plastic wrapping and ink labels.

Apparently, these were then mixed with fresh cheese products in order to make cheeses such as mozzarella and gorgonzola.

It is estimated that a total of 11,000 tonnes of cheese was recycled in this manner over the past two years. It is also believed that the four companies involved achieved a turnover of around 10 million euros which is approxiamately 15.5 million US dollars.

Two Year Investigation

The daily also reports that the investigation by a special police unit last lasted two years and resulted in three people being arrested.

The judge in charge of the case, Francesco Messina, wrote, ‘The alteration and faking of dairy and cheese products has made them dangerous to public health’.

Makes you wonder what other foods get recycled around the world doesn’t it?

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